Zack Gordon 5x11+ Fan Fiction
Chapter 2: Liars tell the truth
Author's Note: Hi everyone, sorry if you noticed that I at first didn't have an author's note in the first chapter for a day or two, I'm new to creating stories here and I didn't realize that author's notes needed to be part of your actual story unlike the chapter titles and overall summary. Also I'm sorry it took so long to publish this chapter, I've been working on it as much as I can but some parts of this were hard for me to come up with- I certainly did not write it chronologically, and I am posting this as soon as I'm finished the chapter. But this one is much longer than the first, and I hope to have ch 3 completed MUCH sooner…no guarantee, though. As I said, this chapter is split into the POVs of the other 3 main girls besides Spencer. Also, I am aware that some aspects of the talk with Tanner here are a little unrealistic…please feel free to correct me if you can think of another way for my story to still flow as it does. Well, (hopefully) enjoy this now! EXTRA NOTE: I have decided that, for now, I will post what I have for this chapter before it is fully done…it is very close to done, but I've waited far too long to publish this, and it's late at night, I can't stay up any later but I really want to get out what I have. I hope to update it with the rest of it as soon as I can (hopefully tomorrow or sunday), and then I will get on to chapter 3, which again should be a lot quicker to write!
Emily POV
Emily watches Spencer stand up and walk towards Tanner, and with a deep breathe Emily and the others gets up and start to follow. Then Spencer suddenly stops and puts her arm out for her friends to wait. "Wait, Lieutenant Tanner?" Spencer asks, and Tanner turns around.
Spencer takes the initiative to speak what Emily had been worried about. "Before we agree to talk to you, we would like to request that you pardon us for…not telling the police the truth before."
Tanner smiles with her typical suspicious look, and speaks carefully. "I had a feeling you would ask that, and as long as everything you are saying now is true, and the truth does not involve you girls committing any other crimes, then yes I would be able and willing to excuse you of previous deception".
A wave of relief passes over Emily. "Thank you" Emily adds gratefully. Tanner nods and tells the girls to follow her into a room.
They sit down on chairs in front of a table, which Tanner sits on the other side of. She has a notepad and pen ready, which instinctively makes Emily wary, though she knows they are here to tell the truth.
"So, let's get started. Fill me in on everything you know, girls. I do have some specific questions in mind that you've been asked before, but I'll let you talk first".
As usual, Spencer takes the lead. "Alison was never kidnapped. She disappeared that night and let everyone think she was dead because someone was anonymously threatening her life via texts and written messages"
Tanner considers this, and she seems to be surprised they would admit such a thing, and she was clearly interested. "And you all knew this the whole time?"
All four girls reply earnestly at once. "No!"
Thankfully, Tanner appears to believe them.
"So do you know why Cyrus confessed to kidnapping her, then? Is he a friend of hers?"
"According to Alison, not quite" Emily explains. "They met while she was in hiding and they bonded, but apparently he only wanted her money and tried to steal from her at one point, which lead to a fight where he stabbed her with a knife"
"I see, but that still doesn't justify her letting him go to jail for kidnapping her…and I assume Alison bribed him so he would confess and get away before she confirmed it was him?"
"Maybe, we're actually not sure. The four of us never interacted or met with Cyrus"
"Alright. So now can I ask, how and when did the four of you find out Alison was actually alive?"
"We only knew for sure that Alison was alive on that night the picture Holbrook received was taken" Spencer explains. "Though we had found out maybe a year earlier through investigation that someone had been sending Alison subtle, anonymous death threats over time, starting the Halloween before the summer she disappeared".
"And you have no idea who this person could be?"
"No, but possibly the same person has been tormenting us ever since her, well Bethany's body was found…"
Emily is shocked for a second, until Tanner reminds them that they had already reported being harassed by A to the police after Mona was caught.
Spencer goes on to explain how Mona was A at first, but then when she was in Radley someone else started it up again, and Mona was still involved but not in charge anymore. Spencer clarifies that to their knowledge, Mona stopped working for A when it seemed A tried to kill her along with Emily, Hanna and Aria at the lodge (even though Mona may not know that it wasn't really A who did that).
Spencer then describes to Tanner how the four of them had driven to Philadelphia to meet Alison upon her request, and then Noel took them to New York, where Alison really was. Spencer also mentions that one reason (probably among others) Alison didn't want to tell the police the truth was that, according to Alison, Alison knew her mom saw someone hit her with a rock from behind. Spencer tells Tanner Alison's account of waking up half conscious and seeing that her mom was burying her while scolding a mysterious person, out of Alison's sight, for killing Alison, not knowing Ali was still alive.
Tanner takes this all in skeptically, but Emily hopes that Tanner can tell from their demeanors that this is all the truth, to their best knowledge. Tanner asks a few more simple questions, and then changes the topic.
"So, you girls were in New York that night…did you by any chance visit a theatre?"
Emily decides to answer. "Yes, and all five of us were there when Shana was killed." Tanner's eyes become wide, but clearly her surprise was that Emily admitted it.
"We spent the night in the theatre to hide from A while Alison was still deciding whether to run away again, though Shana came into the theatre right before we left with the sole purpose of killing Alison. She was not wearing a mask this time, but the black hoodie she died in looked the same as the person's from the rooftop. She had a gun pointed at us as she joined me, Spencer, Hanna, and Alison on the stage and talked about what a terrible, manipulative person Alison is, and how she deserves to die. We tried to calm her down and reason with her, but she wouldn't listen actually listen to us. "
"I see, that must have been scary, I'm sorry about that, girls. So, does that mean Alison did already know Shana Friggs?"
"Yes, they used to be friends when they were little, Shana grew up in Georgia in the same development as Ali's grandmother. They were friends until recently, and when Alison disappeared she went to Shana for help, and that's why Shana moved to Rosewood, to investigate who was after Alison. However, Shana told us she first learned from people about what a cruel and immoral person Alison was, at least in the past, so, she uh decided to…" Emily trails off, and glances at her friends. Hanna and Aria give her warning looks, but Spencer sighs and turns to Emily.
"Let's just admit it, Emily, they will probably figure it out anyway and it will be worse if we don't"
"Ok, you're right" Emily replies with a nod, and Hanna and Aria sigh.
Emily looks at Tanner, thinking of how to say it, but Spencer speaks first.
"Alison accidentally blinded a girl in our grade named Jenna Marshall on the 4th of July the year before she disappeared, by throwing a lit fire cracker into Jenna's garage without knowing she was in there…Alison was trying to send in a stink bomb supposedly to get back at Jenna's step-brother, Toby Cavanaugh, for allegedly spying on us in Emily's house…even though that wasn't true. We're not sure if Alison really believed that, or was trying to prank Jenna, who she didn't like…she insisted she didn't know anyone was in the garage, but Alison is known for her skills at lying. Anyway, the point is that Shana met Jenna when she moved to Rosewood, and earnestly fell in love with her. She still continued to pretend that she was helping Alison, and she reached out to me when Alison needed my help, but she said her relationship with Jenna was just Alison's way of keeping her enemy close. After she threatened us in the theatre though it was clear she was really loyal to Jenna now."
Tanner nods slowly, and takes a close look at each of Emily's friends before sighing and then speaking.
"Well, I will admit I did not at all see this confession coming, and I am very proud of you for admitting it. While of course I am going to get back to what happened with Shana in the theatre, I would first like to ask you some more about that. I believe I heard that Toby Cavanaugh confessed to accidentally blinding his step-sister, didn't he? I don't get why he would protect you guys…"
"After the accident, Alison privately blackmailed Toby into taking the blame, with the knowledge that he was having a sexual relationship with Jenna, but that wasn't the whole story". Emily gulped, and glanced at Spencer who gave her a solemn nod before Emily continued.
"Jenna was the one extorting Toby into the relationship, but Alison didn't know that at the time. Once she found out the truth, she then used that to blackmail Jenna into silence. The four of us didn't even know how she coerced him into taking the blame until after…" Emily's voice trails off when she realizes Tanner is no longer looking right at her, but at Spencer. Emily turns to her friend and notices a tear coming down her tense face.
"Is everything ok there, Ms. Hastings?"
"Uh, yeah, sorry" Spencer mutters, trying to wipe the tear while even more start to pour down. "It's just that…for a while I didn't trust Toby at all, I was convinced he was not only A, but also the one who killed Alison, but obviously he didn't. Emily actually saw the good in him before I did, and I thought she was crazy" Spencer shakes her head and gives Emily a small smile. Emily reciprocates with a nod, and Hanna speaks up.
"It wasn't just Spencer though, Aria and I didn't trust him either, but we were totally wrong."
Spencer continues what she was saying. "So, I eventually realized that he wasn't dangerous well over a year ago and I started to become friends with him, and then we…we fell in love. We're still together now, and I couldn't imagine living without him. He really is the most honest and loyal person I know, and even though I've tried to put the past behind us…every once in a while I find it hard to forgive myself for what I once thought of him".
"I see. Well, of course I am going to look into this more, but if the damage is already done and neither Jenna nor Toby want to press charges, then that will not be an issue".
Emily nods. Obviously Toby has long forgiven them, but Jenna…she claimed to have stopped hating them after Hanna saved her life, but she still is a wildcard.
"So, getting back to what happened in that theatre with Shana…could you girls explain to me how you got out of that situation alive? Which I assume involved killing Shana before she could kill you, correct?"
Emily glances at Aria, who takes a breath and speaks up.
"I wasn't with them in the theatre until after Shana approached them" Aria says as Tanner leans towards her, very interested. "I came in through the back of the stage and saw Shana threatening them, so I snuck towards them without Shana seeing me, and grabbed a prop rifle that was on the stage…I didn't know if it was loaded, but I never actually fired it anyway, nor did I intend to unless she fired at me first, it was just the only thing I could I was initially aiming it at her just to scare her into leaving, but when I called her name she immediately turned the gun on me. She didn't actually fire, but…I just panicked and knocked her arm away with the barrel of the rifle, making her fire at the ceiling and shatter a light. The falling glass startled Shana as well as my friends, giving me a chance to quickly hit her chest with the handle of the rifle and knock her off the stage…which unfortunately ended up killing her."
"Wow, that's quite a story" Tanner says. "So that's really all that happened at the theatre?"
Aria nods and Emily confidently adds, "Yes, that is all Aria- or any of us- did to Shana. Her head hit some music stands when she fell, and when she didn't move after the fall I went over to her and checked her pulse. At that point she was dead"
Tanner nods at Emily and thinks about this for a bit. Meanwhile, Aria appears to be subtly holding her breath until Tanner speaks again, looking at Aria.
"Thank you for telling me this, Aria, I guess its better late than never. You can rest assured that, assuming we don't have or find any contradicting evidence, what you did is in fact legal if Shana unnecessarily had Alison at gun point."
"Thank you for understanding, Lieutenant Tanner" Aria says.
Tanner gives a small smile. "No need to thank me, though, I'm just going by the law. What you claim to have done is completely legal for…basically the same reason self-defense killing is legal."
Emily and her friends silently take that in.
"Oh, interesting" Spencer mutters. "I actually did not know that!"
As soon as she says that Aria lets out a small gasp and turns to give Spencer a fiercelook probably meaning you didn't?!
While Spencer stutters in an attempt to defend herself, Emily speaks up to change the topic.
"So, Tanner, Aria really was going to tell the truth about what happened, but she not only was afraid that the police wouldn't believe it was an accident while saving our lives, but also…once we got back to Rosewood and Alison agreed to go to the police station, she…well Alison literally just…"
"…She just sprung that kidnapping lie on us without even discussing it with us first" Aria continues, and Emily is glad Aria took over for her since Emily was talking about Aria's feelings. "So in addition to us having to back up that story, it also meant that any of us telling the truth about the theatre would contradict her story" Aria continued. "Knowing Alison, if we betrayed her like that she is more than vengeful enough to lie and make it sound like I went out of my way to murder Shana…trust me, she's a very good and chronic liar"
"She is" Emily confirms in unison with Spencer and Hanna, and Tanner nods, still appearing suspicious. Emily mentally notes that Aria herself is quite skilled at lying (even to her friends and family) too. Part of her almost wanted to refute Aria's prediction to defend Alison, but Emily realizes that even if Ali isn't cruel enough to do that, it's more important now to not contradict her closest friends in front of Tanner.
"Alright, I see your point, girls. Just to be clear, though, all four of you are giving me your word that, according to you, Shana's death was an accident incited by her threatening Alison's life, right?"
"Yes" all four of them agree, and Spencer has more to add.
"Also, I want to let you know that before we left the theatre, I did anonymously call 911 and told a dispatcher that there was a fatal accident at the theatre…"
"Really? Now, you do realize that all 911 calls are recorded, right?"
Spencer nods confidently. "Yes I know, and you will find it if you look. I assume you will recognize my voice. I do realize of course that it was still illegal to not confess everything I witnessed, but I declined to do that for the same reasons Aria never confessed…I'm sorry, though."
"I appreciate that Spencer. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a brief chat with my partner before I let you go, but you girls can relax knowing that nothing you told me gives me reason to arrest any of you at this time. "
Emily nods, and Tanner walks out of the room. Emily and her friends share pleased, but still nervous looks.
Emily is relieved that they got past the first hurdle and came clean in a way they had never done before. Yet she still knows the fallout will not be pretty- but at least A no longer has anything on them. As for Alison, Emily is very scared of how she will react…but as she thinks about it, she realizes it's not just fear she's feeling- she is filled with guilt, too. Emily shakes her head. It's not Alison I should feel bad for, she doesn't deserve my sympathy, not the way she's currently acting Emily thinks to herself. Paige is the one I need to feel bad for and be loyal to. I need to talk to her tomorrow…and I hope she will forgive me for ignorantly putting Alison up on a pedestal.
Hanna POV
As Hanna sits with her friends waiting for Tanner to return, she thinks about how this went pretty well. Words can't describe how relieved Hanna is that what Aria did in the theatre was not illegal. Tanner appeared to believe that Ali really wasn't kidnapped- and just as importantly, that the four of them would never had made up such a story if it hadn't been for Alison and their misplaced loyalty to her. Hanna just prays that A wont find a way to make them look like liars again.
Tanner finally comes back in the room, and Hanna quickly turns to her. Tanner has a slight smile, which relieves Hanna. Tanner walks to the back of her desk and looks at the girls without sitting down or speaking. Hanna hopes that Tanner is about to tell them they can go home now, but that is not what Tanner says.
"Alright girls, I appreciate your cooperation, though before you leave, I just have a few more questions to ask you, just to clear some things up".
"Ok." Spencer replies, with a hint of worry.
"So, girls, Shana admitted to trying to kill you at the lodge, and beside that was this incident at the theatre the only other time Shana Friggs ever attempted to kill Alison, or threatened any of your lives?" The girls are silent. "Was the theatre the first time you girls encountered Shana in New York?"
The bad memory makes Hanna instinctively shake her head sadly at Tanner, but then as she notices out of the corner of her eye that Spencer and Emily were nodding in affirmation, she regrets it. Even though they had decided, for once, to put everything out in the open with Tanner, Hanna suddenly realized that perhaps they shouldn't be fully honest about Shana's first attempt at murder. However, it might be too late now.
Tanner raises her eyebrow at Hanna's friends, who make quick, nervous glances at Hanna, probably annoyed though they smartly don't show it. Hanna is ready to admit the truth, since she already implied something else happened, when thankfully Spencer says it for her.
"Right, sorry, there was one other time, just the night before that…" Spencer says carefully, clearly noticing that Tanner was smug again, waiting for them to get caught in a lie. "While we were talking to Alison in that shop…Shana, well we didn't see her face because the person was wearing a ski mask, and at first we thought it was A…until Shana died at the theatre but A resumed contacting us." Tanner nodded, waiting for Spencer to continue. "Anyway, the person shattered the opaque glass window with a gunshot, pointed the gun at us and chased us to-" Spencer falters and quickly glances at Aria. Hanna's heart is beating so fast she can hardly think, but she looks at Aria as well and notices that now Aria is doing her very best to look composed and sure of herself, not nervous. Hanna is further startled when Aria speaks up to continue the story.
"We ran to the rooftop of the building since the attacker was blocking the exit, and the person followed us up there. The person aimed the gun at us again, but thank god Hanna was able to grab the person from behind and got the gun away from the attacker. She aimed it at the attacker and told the person to take off their mask, and the person acted like they were going to do it at first, but then quickly turned and leaped off the roof, and grabbed on to the edge of an adjacent rooftop. The person pulled herself onto that roof, and got away."
Tanner nods, and asks, "So no one was actually injured on the rooftop?"
Without thinking, Hanna starts to say "Just Ez-" then she freezes. Without daring to look at Aria, Hanna looks directly at Tanner, who has wide eyes and a smug, knowing smile.
"I, sorry, I mean no" Hanna forces a laugh. "No one was injured on the rooftop, I misspoke."
Tanner nods skeptically and narrows her eyes at Hanna. "Are you sure you weren't just about to say the name Ezra? As in, perhaps, Ezra Fitzgerald, who was in fact shot that very night."
Hanna shakes her head. "No, our teacher was not there"
To Hanna's dismay Tanner does not seem to buy it. Still, she lets it go for the moment. "Well, anyway, once you got the gun, you did not fire at the person before they got away?"
Hanna was genuinely annoyed at the insinuation, and remarked, "No, because I'm not a murderer! Clearly Shana still made it to theatre, didn't she?"
"Well it didn't have to be a fatal shot, and Shana may not have gotten to the theatre herself-"
"Did you guys find any bullet wounds on Shana?"
Tanner sighs. "No, but how are you so sure it was Shana Friggs who threatened you on the rooftop, if the person's body was completely hidden during that encounter?"
"You're right, we don't know that for sure!" Aria declares quickly.
Without thinking, Hanna gives her a confused look. "Yes we do, Ezra knew it was her going after us and followed her to save-"
Hanna freezes and bites her tongue as she registers the look of betrayal on Aria's face seconds too late. Hanna's heart starts racing as she realizes her huge mistake, and she wishes she could go back in time and fix it. She glances at Tanner's smug face, giving Tanner a nonchalant half smile. Her mind races and her mouth hangs open while she tries to think of how to explain away what she just said without bursting into tears, but nothing comes to her. Tanner leans forward and speaks firmly.
"Don't bother lying, Hanna, it's obvious you were going to say before that Shana shot Ezra on that rooftop, which would explain his gunshot wound that same night…and I'm pretty sure I heard that his unconscious body was indeed collected from a rooftop. Now, I don't suppose you girls are going to tell me you know of another Ezra besides your teacher Ezra Fitzgerald, do you?"
Tanner waited for them to respond, and none of them did.
"I didn't think so. I also don't really need to ask why you, Hanna, referred to your teacher by his first name, do I?" Tanner smiles smugly and gives Aria a pointed look. Tanner is about to say more, but Spencer speaks up first.
"Ok, it was him, but he just happened to be in the area, it was really total luck that he…"
"Save your breath, Ms. Hastings, I'm not as clueless about this as you think" As soon as Tanner says it, she looks back at Aria, while Spencer stays frozen in shock, eyes wide and mouth open like a deer in headlights.
"Ms. Montgomery, you already know I am well aware that you and Mr. Fitz had a close…social relationship while he was no longer your teacher…but he has again been your teacher for quite a while now. Of course, there's nothing wrong with a teacher stepping in outside of school to protect some of his students, but there seems to be more to this story than that."
Aria just looks at Tanner, seeming to be thinking of what to say while doing her best not to show any emotions. Tanner briefly glances at Hanna, who does her best to appear as if she doesn't understand what Tanner is suggesting, but the damage has already been done. Tanner then narrows her eyes at Aria again.
"See, what I don't get is why Ezra Fitz, who does not even live in New York, was with you girls on that rooftop in the first place…was he also with you in the restaurant while you talked to Alison?"
"No." Aria says assertively, but Hanna can see Aria's fear starting to break through. Tanner must see it, too. Hanna's stomach churns, making her feel like she is about to throw up. She feels as guilty as when she gave that art exhibit ticket to Aria's mom. This time what Hanna did was a careless mistake, but regardless of her intentions the inevitable consequences now could be much worse than Aria's parents finding out.
Tanner nods at Aria, but still looks suspicious.
"How about you focus on what we told you about Alison and A" Spencer says protectively. "Aria should not be your main concern now!"
Tanner looks annoyed for a second, but then relaxes and stands up. She starts to walk around the table slowly towards the girls.
"Trust me, I will take what you have told me into consideration. Though before you girls leave, would any of you like to have a…private conversation with me?" She looks directly at Hanna. "Hanna, maybe you would?"
Hanna makes a face and stands up and exclaims "Not a chance!" while biting back the urge to add "bitch" at the end.
She storms out of the room ignoring Tanner's calls for her to come back. As she storms through the hallway tears gather in Hanna's eyes, making her vision blurry. She stops speed walking once she is outside of the police station, and tears stream down her face. A voice in her head keeps telling her that this is all her fault; she probably just ruined Aria's life, and even more so Ezra's, because she couldn't keep her stupid mouth shut.
Although Hanna had understood Aria's anger about Ezra's book secret, she was still glad that they reconciled with each other. Even before Ezra saved them from Shana, Hanna's motive for stopping Aria from telling Hackett the truth wasn't just for Aria's family's sake- she secretly had a feeling that Ezra really did love Aria, and they would be able to work it out. After all, Caleb had done something sort of similar to Hanna, taking advantage of her for a profit before he really got to know and fall in love with her. Even if he had moved in for the wrong reason, doing so gave them a great opportunity to realize they were perfect for each other. Sure, Hanna was distracted by her broken heart after she found out, but in hindsight if Hanna had never caught Caleb giving Jenna the pendant, nothing bad would have happened since Caleb had already realized he loves Hanna. Ezra's deception may have been for a much longer period of time, but everyone makes bad decisions selfishly that they regret later – especially Hanna and her friends.
Hanna is sure that she is about to throw up from guilt over betraying Aria and Ezra…the whole reason their relationship had to be kept a secret while he is her teacher is because from the outside no one would believe that their relationship is earnest and real, which it is. Hanna starts to walk away to who knows where, but after 5 seconds she hears Aria's voice call her name from the doors. Hanna's heart starts pounding, but when she turns around, Aria seems more sympathetic than upset.
Aria POV
Sure, if they were in private Aria might have slapped Hanna for being so careless…but, ironically, it would not have been an issue if they were alone. Regardless, though, Aria didn't actually hold it against Hanna, she knew Hanna didn't mean to rat her out. Besides, if it wasn't for Hanna, Aria would have gotten Ezra fired and probably arrested herself by talking to Hackett.
"Hanna, come here, I just want to talk with you" Aria sympathetically says to her friend who looks depressed and terrified. The small amount of anger Aria had now vanishes completely. Hanna slowly walks towards her and Aria meets her half way, giving her a hug.
"I'm so, so sorry I let his name slip, Aria…I messed up really badly, but I didn't mean to…"
"Hanna, it's ok, I believe you. I know you would never intentionally tell the police my secret, and what you said only helped Tanner connect the dots. Now I just have to find a way to fix this"
"How can we fix this?" Hanna sobs. "Tanner is going to interrogate Ezra now…and if he lies…that will make it…"
"It's not going to come to that, trust me. I know what I need to do now." Aria pauses while Hanna gives her a baffled look, and Aria is glad to see Hanna has stopped crying. Aria does have a plan in mind, and it's risky…yet fairly simple. Like Ezra did in the past, Aria realizes she will have to tell Tanner the truth about Ezra…well, most of it. Except for the parts involving statutory rape…which reminds Aria how much she hates that term. Aria feels that the vulgar word shouldn't be used to describe something that was consensual…especially if there was no seduction involved.
Aria tells Hanna what her plan is, which actually makes Hanna momentarily laugh, until she realizes Aria is serious.
"Aria, that could still get him fired, and you and him actually, like, you know…" Hanna suddenly trails off as Aria rolls her eyes.
"Hanna!" Aria chides her. "Obviously, I am going to have…"
"Fine you're right; I guess you should tell them the whole truth, Aria!" Hanna suddenly interrupts rather loudly, and Aria notices her eyes momentarily flash away. Aria is perplexed at how sincere for a moment until she hears the door behind her open and footsteps coming towards them. Aria turns to see Tanner approaching, and her face becomes hot. Thank goodness Hanna shut her up…she sure redeemed herself now!
"Girls, please, you told me so much already, wouldn't you rather just tell me the truth now? I already have a pretty good idea about…"
"Ok, I will explain everything" Aria says. "I'll go talk to you privately and tell you about my relationship with Ezra Fitz, and why he was on the rooftop" Aria does her best to look sincere.
As Aria walks back into the station with Tanner, she can see Emily and Spencer waiting in the lobby, and also notices that Hanna stayed behind. Aria looks back at her and Hanna motions for her to keep going. Aria mouths thank you and Hanna nods with a smile in response before Aria turns to enter the lobby. She meets Emily and Spencer, who give her nervous but sympathetic looks.
Aria nods at them as she walks by behind Tanner.
"It's ok, I've got this, I'm just going to tell the truth" Aria tries her best to sound dismally sincere, and she mostly is sincere- just not quite fully. Spencer and Emily seem confused and worried, but then Spencer's cell phone buzzes and she checks it. From behind her, Aria hears Spencer asking Emily to take her home because Melissa needs her, but Aria suspects that may not have been who texted her. If Aria is right, then Hanna is really going above and beyond to make up for her slip up, which makes Aria feel good.
Aria sits down across a table from Tanner, in a different room this time.
"So, Aria, I assume you and Ezra Fitz started to bond during your junior year of high school, right? Perhaps when you met with him privately one day to get some extra help for class, maybe?"
Aria's jaw clenches at the stereotypical assumption, though she realizes her situation was quite uncommon…especially rare given Ezra's real motives for talking to her, but at this point Aria didn't feel like telling Tanner about Ezra's book if she didn't have to- that's a whole separate crime that no one could explain away.
"No, that is not what happened, not at all" Aria states. Tanner raises an eyebrow skeptically, and Aria recounts what happened. She even admits that she subtly tricked Ezra into thinking she was in college (and she never found out his last name, which was the only name she received on her English teacher before her first day).
Aria doesn't say it, but obviously she knows now that Ezra already knew her real age from the start…but that doesn't mean he knew he would be her teacher. Even if he did, what they talked about that first day had absolutely nothing to do with high school anyway; they got to know each other like any two people might.
After she tells Tanner about their first meeting, Tanner seems to believe Aria's story.
"So the next day I came into the classroom on my first day of school, and the teacher was writing his name on the chalkboard. He turned around, and we saw each other…obviously I was caught red handed. After class we talked privately. You may not believe me, but I swear to you, he first told me that him being my teacher changes everything now. I was really planning on letting it go. I happened to see him at Alison's funeral two days later, and I told him I wouldn't want to do anything that could hurt his job. I started to walk away, but he pulled me back and we kissed…and then started a secret relationship. Our socialization outside of school had nothing to do with our English class, though, not even in an appropriate way…my performance in the class was never mentioned outside of school, not once."
Aria and Tanner look into each other's eyes for a good twenty seconds, and Aria hopes Tanner believes her. Tanner finally nods slowly, twice.
"Well, Ms. Montgomery, you are quite full of far fetched stories tonight, aren't you?"
"With all respect, Lieutenant, they are all the truth. Please believe me."
"How about you tell me a little more about what your relationship with Mr. Fitz involved, exactly?"
"Look, believe it or not, but our feelings for each other are as real as can be, no exaggeration. We both have made some bad mistakes in our relationship, but our intentions are pure. We broke up and got back together several times. When he re applied for a job at Rosewood High, we weren't together…but then recently we got back together again…but none of this has anything to do with school, and you can give me a polygraph test about that if you don't believe me!"
Aria is on the verge of tears now, but she holds it back. Tanner appears to be somewhat sympathetic, but Aria can't be sure. Regardless, Tanner seems to be waiting for her to say more.
"As for the physical specifics, is mainly just socializing, though we have been intimate, in regards to affection and kissing and hugging…but that's it."
"Oh really? That is all?" Tanner raises her eyebrow and narrows her eyes and Aria tries harder to sell it.
"Yes. I mean, I'll admit that we've wanted to…you know, hook up, many times, but we both are well aware that would be illegal on his part given my age, not just unprofessional as my teacher."
"Ok, and again you would still be willing to assert that in a polygraph test, right?"
"Of course I am, because it's the truth. Even if he wanted to do it, I would never risk letting him go to jail. I love him too much, and I know he loves me too." Aria feels a twinge of guilt as she says that- she meant the part about loving him, but if she really cared for him why did she have sex with him? Maybe that was a mistake…but either way it already happened…three times, and nothing can change that. Aria has no choice but to cover that up, for Ezra's sake. It's not like he's a criminal, not at all.
"Oh, well how noble of you, Ms. Montgomery" Tanner replies mockingly. "I am still, of course, going to have to notify your principle of this…and I will be speaking to Mr. Fitz shortly too."